I have never viewed myself as much of a Halloween person. I tend to see it as a bother, rather than a seasonal celebration, but this year I missed it. In some ways, I went through the rhythms of the season; a trip to the pumpkin patch, my friend’s – socially distanced – pumpkin carving […]
Ever since The Husband left there’s been one particular aspect of life that I’ve been struggling with: technology. The Husband, who worked for Google, loved everything to do with modern technology and what you could do with it around the home. From when I first met him, he would stare at me with incredulity when […]
There was no way on God’s green earth that, having finished Mr Flood’s Last Resort, I wasn’t going to read another Jess Kidd novel. Her writing is too weird and wonderful to be missed and so, I bought myself a copy of Himself. Oh my goodness, it was even better that the previous read! More […]
Those of you who read my blog regularly will know that I’m a total fan of Matt Haig, whether it be fiction or nonfiction. How to Stop Time remains one of my favorite ever novels, so it’s always with great joy that I discover an unread book by this author (although I have to admit […]
There are some books that are just written to become movies and I have to say that, with the right casting, The French Girl by Lexie Elliott could be one of them! I chanced across this book whilst having a wander through Bookshop Santa Cruz, and yet again it was another simple case of liking […]
Every now and then a writer comes along that really excites you because she, or he, is just so amazingly different. It doesn’t always have to be a high-brow reading experience that challenges conventions of grammar or story construction. Sometimes it can just be a writer that is fun to read and hard to put […]
Caroline Kepnes can write, but you’ve probably already read You, so you don’t need me to tell you that. If you haven’t yet discovered You, go immediately to your local bookstore or library and obtain a copy. Your only regret will be not having read it sooner. I remember when I discovered You, I really […]
I do love a good ghost story but I’m not one for being scared into an early grave, unable to switch the lights off or get to sleep for fear of what lurks in the closet. As I grow older I definitely enjoy a good fright far more than I used to in my twenties […]
As with a silent companion, this book snuck up on me. I finished it two nights ago and have been thinking about it ever since as, just like a Henry James novel, I’m not entirely sure what I just read. Was it a descent into madness, was it a ghost story, a betrayal? What? What […]
I love the way The Drowned Detective, by Neil Jordan, is written. It just feels so incredibly oblique and dreamlike, which works well in the confusion of the story itself and our inability as reader to tell the difference between what is real and imagined. Does the title of the book refer to the fact […]
Nutshell Book Reviews 